The We Hate Hermione Club
by alBBie
Summary: Previously called Can I Please Die Now? Hermione forces all of her friends to do a Muggle Studies program abroad in the USA. They now find themselves amidst 2 foreign cities and a completely new culture, and can't hate Hermione more for it. Ch 2 edited.
1. Aeroplane

**Summary: **Hermione convinces her friends to join the Muggle Studies class just in time for the half-year long project. Each student is paired up with a Muggle family and sent to their home to spend the first school semester with them. Need I say more?

**Author's Note: **I've said this for almost _all _of my stories and _no one_ listens. _Please, please_ state in your reviews whether or not you want me to continue this story, _please_. I don't know how many people are going to end up reading/enjoying/reviewing this story, so _please_ tell me if it's worth continuing or not. **_PLEASE!_**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything except for the general idea and the characters mentioned that are NOT Harry Potter characters.

00 000 0000 00000

Harry shifted in his crumbling seat right smack in the middle of the airplane. He really was in the middle. He was in the middle seat of the middle row right in the middle of the body of the plane. It wasn't a very fun place to be sitting, especially because his friends were all snoring on both sides of him, so if he wanted to use the bathroom or something he couldn't even get up and do that. How annoying.

Well, at least Ron had finally fallen asleep and stopped cooing over every Muggle thing in the airplane and grabbing him in fear whenever they hit a speck of turbulence.

The lights of the aircraft had been dimmed, setting the mood for sleep. Harry wished that he had the ability to sleep on airplanes, like all his friends did, but unfortunately he wasn't so lucky. He had been on an airplane once before, when the Dursley's had dragged him off to visit Vernon's cruel and disgustingly ugly sister who lived in Germany. They had only brought him because they knew he'd have a bad time with that wretched woman.

But Harry tried to look at the bright side. He had never been to the US before and he looked at it as somewhat of a new adventure, or something.

He sighed. He knew he really was just trying to make himself not hate Hermione for forcing him to sign up for this stupid class. It was all her fault that he was now on his way to living with a Muggle family for the first four months of his seventh year. Why did she even need to take this dumb class? She was a MUGGLE-BORN! And he had grown up with them, so how could he let himself get tricked into doing this?

He gazed grumpily at the crack of light spilling through underneath someone's slightly open window shade. He was so happy to see light; it meant that maybe the lights would soon be turned on and they'd _land_.

Suddenly someone moved next to him. It was Hermione. He had thought about injuring her in her sleep several times during the flight. Clearly he'd lost his chance.

She lifted her head up from the tray table she was resting it on and stretched in her seat. "Good morning," she said to him, yawning and smiling at the same time.

He grunted at her.

"Aw, come on," she said. "You can't possibly _still _be mad at me for this, can you?"

He scoffed. "Thanks to you I get to spend the first four months of my seventh year living with a bunch of random American people!" he expressed.

Hermione smiled. "It'll be fun! I promise."

"You better be right," he grumbled.

"Try and get some sleep," she advised. "You'll feel better."

"I can't sleep on planes."

"Just _try_."

He grudgingly folded his arms over his tray table and let his head sink into them. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

00 000 0000 00000

Ron woke up with a start as the airplane hit the ground at a shockingly abrupt speed.

"What's happening!" he cried.

"Calm down, Ron," said Hermione. "We're just landing."

"It's about time," he said angrily.

"That's what I said," Harry mumbled to his friend.

Hermione hit the two of them. "Stop being so pessimistic!" she scolded. "Just think of this as a fun, learning experience. Ron, think of how proud your dad will be when you come home knowing everything there is to know about Muggles!"

This time it was Ron who scoffed. "He's going to be so annoying about it. I bet he'll call me on that damn felly-tone thing, like everyday."

"_Telephone_, Ron. _Telephone_," Hermione corrected.

"Same difference."

Twenty minutes later, the eight Hogwarts students and two teachers were finally exiting the airplane. They grabbed their carry-on bags and headed down the long tunnel that lead to the gate and the terminal in JFK International Airport in Long Island, New York. After the long process of collecting their luggage from the baggage claim (which was made even longer and more tedious because of some of the students not even knowing what a baggage claim was or how it worked), the group was finally ready to leave. But first, Professor Widdle, the Muggle Studies teacher (**A/N: **If anyone knows the name of the **_real _**Muggle Studies teacher, please tell me. Thanks) had an important announcement to make.

"Only four of you will be staying in New York City," she explained. "Four of you will be staying at a hotel in Manhattan for one night before boarding yet another airplane- sorry about that- and then flying to Los Angeles, California. Those four will be staying with Professor McDonald in the hotel for the night and he will be escorting you to Los Angeles."

"Yes," Professor McDonald continued. "Those four students are Hermione Granger, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbot, and Seamus Finnigan."

Seamus groaned. "Thanks a lot, Hermione," he mumbled so only she and a few other students could hear him. She had gotten him to join this class, too, even though he was a Muggle-born student.

Hermione's could feel the flames sprouting inside her cheeks. She was upset with herself that so many people were blaming this on her. Why had she been so persistent when speaking to everyone that this class would be fun and a good one to be a part of? Why had she been so obnoxious? Now all her friends were angry with her. _Well, I guess I'll have to make lots of friends in Los Angeles, then,_ she thought to herself.

"Okay, so if those four would come with me..." Professor McDonald said. "First you may say goodbye to your friends, of course."

Hermione turned to Harry and Ron. "I know you guys are mad at me, but I _know_ you'll have so much fun in New York," she said, smiling. "Write to me or call me or something. _Please_. You can't stay mad at me forever."

"We'll see about that..." Ron joked, hugging his friend. Even though she had pissed him off, he _would_ miss her nagging for the next four months. Who would remind him to do his homework every second?

"Have fun in California, Hermione," Harry said, hugging her.

"I will," she responded.

Everyone bid farewell to the rest of the people who would not be staying or continuing on with them until it was finally time for the west coast group to head on out. They sadly left the group and continued on to get a taxi or two and travel to their hotel. The east coast group, on the other hand, continued walking in the opposite direction of the terminal until they reached a large group of people that look like it consisted of several different families.

"These are the families you will be staying with," Professor Widdle announced.

Suddenly each family appeared to have a sign, which they held up in front of their group. Each sign had the name of one of the Hogwarts students on it.

Ron gaped as he saw the family that was to be his for the next four months. It consisted of a mom, a dad, a boy who looked about his age, and what probably had to be the hottest girl he'd ever seen in his life. She was tallish with short, wavy blond hair, and nicely sized boobs. She had this mysterious, sultry sort of look to her and Ron couldn't wait to explore it.

He walked over to the family, taking care not to trip over his abnormally large feet. "I'm Ron," he said, his voice squeaking.

"Hi, Ron!" the dad said excitedly. "I'm Bob Johansson. Call me Bob." He held out a hand, which Ron took politely.

"I'm Liz," the mother said, wearing a blindingly bright smile and shaking his hand.

"I'm Andrew," said the boy.

"I'm Cassie," said the girl, looking him up and down.

"It's nice to meet you all," Ron said nicely, his mouth hurting from smiling for so long. But he couldn't stop; he was still looking at Cassie.

00 000 0000 00000

A few feet away, Harry was getting acquainted with the Rosenberg family.

"Call me Jacob," Mr. Rosenberg insisted, acting somewhat nervous. "After all, I'm going to be your dad for the next four months!" He chuckled and Harry noticed the twins that were to be his brother and sister (Isaac and Ally) rolling their eyes in embarrassment at their father.

"Oh, yes, and call me Madeline," the mother added.

Harry nodded enthusiastically. This was going to be one heck of a four months.

00 000 0000 00000

_Samantha, Gavin, Robert, and Allison Stone, _Parvati thought to herself, running the names of her family in her head. _Simple enough, right? _

"Where do you live?" Parvati asked, knowing she probably sounded stupid. But she was trying to make conversation.

"We live in Lower Manhattan," Gavin answered. He had this giant blonde, curly mass that bobbed around on top of his head. It was rather distracting. "But we go to school in Brooklyn."

"Brooklyn's one of the boroughs of New York City, right?" Parvati wondered. "Sorry, I need to brush up on my American geography!" She could feel her cheeks burning. She had forgotten how little she knew about the US. She wished that Hermione had advised her to check up on all that information during her endless speech about why to take up Muggle Studies with her.

"That's alright," Robert, the father, responded. "You'll get the hang of it soon enough."

Parvati smiled. "I hope so. So who in the family is a wizard?" she questioned. Every family had a Muggle-born relative in the immediate family so that the school wouldn't be revealing the secret of wizardry to anyone who didn't already know about it in the world.

"Our younger sister Alex," Gavin informed her. "But she's at school already."

Parvati sighed. Would she ever get the hang of all this confusing stuff?

00 000 0000 00000

The last member of the east coast bunch was Dean Thomas. He was overwhelmed by his family, the Miriacci's, which had six people in it. Six was a big number to him, and he was having trouble learning everyone's name.

"You're... Milo, right?" Dean asked a tall boy with dirty blond hair.

"Leo," he corrected, trying to hold back laughter.

"Sorry," Dean responded, embarrassed. "Leo, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," he told Dean. "Hannah's eighteen, Anna's thirteen, and Milo's fifteen."

Dean nodded. "Got it. I hope." He decided to change the subject. "So who in your family is a wizard?"

"Hannah's a witch," Leo told him. "It was so weird when we found out. I thought it was a joke, or something."

Dean forced laughter. These people were much different than he thought they would be...

00 000 0000 00000

**A/N: **It wasn't supposed to be so long! Sorry :( PLEASE say in your reviews whether or not you want me to continue this story. **_PLEASE! _**Review, please :D


	2. Staring Problem

**A/N: **Thanks to those of you who reviewed the first chapter! I really appreciated it, especially because you all told me whether or not you wanted me to continue, which really made me happy! Thank you all so much and keep up the good reviews xD

**Raksha: **Thanks :) Keep up with your nice and happy reviews xD

**GiGiFanFic: **Thank you so much! Check out and review my other stories :D

**Bewitched Angel: **Thank you so much! You're review made me so happy :') Keep on reviewing and making me happy :D

**Alenor: **Thanks for your review!

**Dark672: **I can't make any promises about the length, but I'll try and keep that in mind. Thanks for your review!

**Glendon Orne: **Thanks for the review! Yup, things are going to be a bit difficult for them. I like writing stuff taking place in the US a wee bit more because I'm from here, so I obviously know the culture better. But America's a confusing place. I sometimes get lost in my own country!

**Kenny19f: **Thanks for your review! Keep 'em up ;)

If anyone knows whether or not Dean Thomas is a Muggle born PLEASE TELL ME! For now, he's not going to be, but I'll change his parts in the story if someone says he is! Also, I'm going to say that Seamus grew up pretty Muggle-y even though he's only half-Muggle. Also, would you all care to review my story Potter's Ten or When Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean because I like both of those stories but they have few reviews :( I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed 'em tho!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Harry Potter characters (except for Professor Widdle and Professor McDonald) but I own all the Americans! Mwahahahhahahahaha!

00 000 0000 00000

"All right," Mr. Miriacci announced, opening the door to his giant Suburban SUV and literally jumping out. "We're home."

Dean could make out the bottom of a large white house through the tinted windows of the car. He followed Milo, Anna, Leo, and Hannah out the door and saw the house from a much better view. It was large, spacious, and white with at least three floors and two cars parked in the driveway plus the monstrous SUV. They got Dean's bags out of the back of the car before walking up a flight of narrow stone steps, across the path in the small yard and into the house. Dean was greeted by lots of loud barking and two big black labs jumping on him.

"This is Shaq and Donkey," Leo introduced, looking somewhat embarrassed. "We named them when we were really little."

Dean nodded.

"I'll show you to your room," Leo said, starting up a wide flight of stairs. At the top of the staircase there was a small, U-shaped hallway that curved around a wall. There was now thick blue carpeting on the floor. Leo led him up another broad staircase on top of which there was a U-shaped hallway and a wall. Leo entered the second room on the left. "This is where you'll be sleeping," he announced.

The room was fairly large, with a large bookcase and dresser. The bed was pretty big and the windows let in lots of bright sunlight. _I could get used to this_, Dean thought.

"So, you're probably pretty jet-lagged," Leo inferred. "Do you want to take a nap, or something?"

"I actually slept a lot on the plane," Dean said, stifling a yawn. "When does school start, anyway?"

"Uh... tomorrow, actually," Leo said, looking rather guilty.

"Nice," Dean said. So Muggle America might've so far been one of the most confusing places he'd ever been, and he was pissed that he'd let Hermione trick him into doing this even though he was a Muggle-born; he was still excited for school: American chick's were _hot_.

00 000 0000 00000

Harry stepped out of the Rosenbergs' sedan and out into the dirty sidewalks of New York City. Isaac hopped up to a large glass doorway and slid a key easily inside. He opened the door and held it open for Harry and Jacob to enter with Harry's belongings. Jacob hit the up button on the elevator and waited for it to arrive.

"So, Harry, have you ever been to New York City before?" Jacob questioned almost giddily.

"Uh, no," he answered.

The elevator door pulled itself open and they entered it, cramming all of Harry's belongings into the small area. Harry felt his cheeks burning at the fact that all of this stuff that could barely fit in was his. At the third floor the doors slid open and they stepped outside to the short hallway that was painted and odd shade of greenish-bluish-gray. Finally they reached the apartment and Isaac opened the door. As Harry stepped inside an incredibly warm and welcoming feeling enveloped him. The room that they first entered was a spacious one with the kitchen to his right and the TV and couch straight ahead. As he walked farther into the room, Harry saw that there was a living room to the far left and around the corner on the left were four rooms with closed doors. To the right of the TV room was another two doors.

"You're room's over here, Harry," Isaac announced, leading him into one of the rooms around the corner.

Harry entered the small room. Well, it wasn't exactly small. It was more... Compact. There was a lot going on in the room from the posters of athlete's and scantily clad swimwear models on the wall to the millions of piles of shelves lined up on the walls.

"Uh... this is my younger brother David's room," Isaac said, his cheeks tinted pink.

"Cool," Harry responded, trying to sound as enthusiastic and optimistic as possible. The family seemed nice enough, and from the bit he'd seen of the city, it seemed cool, too. How bad could it be?

00 000 0000 00000

Ron's jaw dropped just from seeing the outside view of the Johansson's house on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Yes, they had a _house_. It was four stories, deeper than the Marinara Trench, and about the width of the Entrance Hall to Hogwarts. Andrew and Bob beckoned him to follow them up two flights of stairs to his room, which was across from Andrew's and on the wall next to Cassie's. It was the "guest bedroom" with huge windows, a desk, and a dresser. There was also a walk-in closet and his own private bathroom to go with it all. This was by far the best treatment Ron had ever gotten. It _completely_ surpassed his house by _every_ stretch of the imagination.

"You got the best room in the house," Andrew said, setting his bags down.

"You're house is... _so nice_," Ron expressed, unable to say more.

"Thanks," Andrew responded.

"I mean my house is... Ant sized compared to this thing... Jeez..."

Andrew laughed. "I guess I kind of take the size for granted."

Ron stared, dumbfounded at the room a few more times before changing the subject. "So when does school start? I'm going to the same one as you and your sister, right?" he asked.

Andrew nodded. "It's a school in the Bronx called Waterdale and it starts tomorrow," he told Ron.

Ron's jaw dropped again. "Tomorrow?" he remarked incredulously. "Wow, you've got a lot to teach me about American culture in the next couple of hours."

00 000 0000 00000

The next day, as our east coast friends were either dying or living it up at their new schools, the west coast group was just getting introduced to their families. Justin Finch-Fletchley was getting acquainted with Jennifer Wilson, and Peter, Nick, and Isabel Milaris. Hannah Abbott was trying desperately to understand her complicated family.

"Okay, my mom Lisa Mondeau and my dad Miguel Stipa got married, had me and my sister and brothers, and then got divorced. Then my dad married Meredith Stipa-Parker," Amelie Stipa slowly explained to her. "I know it's complicated, but you'll get it soon enough."

Hannah nodded, running through the information in her mind again. What kept on dwelling on was how weird their names were. Who names their kids Andres and Amelie? And from hearing Lisa "Mondeau" talk, she definitely was not a native of France. Neither was Miguel one of any Spanish-speaking country. "How old are all you guys?" she finally asked.

"I'm seventeen and Andres is sixteen," Amelie told her. "And we have another brother who's thirteen but he's at his wizard school."

"Cool," Hannah replied, happy to hear the word "wizard". There were so many Muggles and so much Muggle culture around her that she felt like such an alien.

"You're going to love L.A.," Amelie assured her. "It's the _best_ city. And believe me; I've been to a lot so I know." She laughed. Hannah wanted to throw up.

00 000 0000 00000

Seamus was discovering his family to be as confusing as the Stipas, if not more so. Apparently, there was Harold Papulos, the dad, and he was married to Vivian... something-or-rather... and they had one kid together, while Mr. Papulos had two others. Now, where _their_ mother was, Seamus had yet to discover.

"It's so interesting to see another wizard," Vivian exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing Seamus' bicep. "I myself am a witch, but I haven't interacted with any other wizards since I was probably in High School!"

Seamus forced a laugh. Boy, what he was going to do to Hermione-

"So have you ever been to America before?" Matt Papulos questioned.

"No," Seamus grumbled.

"This is your first time? Well I'm _sure_ you'll love it," Matt said. "How much do you know about non-wizard life already?"

"Me dad's a Muggle," Seamus informed them.

"Sorry?"

"My. Dad. Isn't. A. Wizard."

"Oh, so you know a bit, then?" Vivian asked.

Seamus shrugged, clenching his fists and imagining Hermione's mangled body sprawled out on the ground...

00 000 0000 00000

"Theodore, Ann, Jonathan, Lindsay, Ashleigh, Charlie," Mr. Webber (Theodore) said, pointing to each corresponding person.

"Wow, there's a lot of you," Hermione commented, somewhat taken aback.

"And there's one more but he's away at college so he couldn't come and meet you," Ms. Webber (Ann) said with a laugh. Hermione forced her own in response.

"So, have you ever been to America before?" Lindsay asked eagerly.

"Once," Hermione answered. "But I went to New York City."

Lindsay nodded. "It's fun there."

"It is," Hermione remarked. "Do you all live in Los Angeles?"

"Yes," Ms. Webber answered.

There was a long and awkward pause until finally Mr. Webber spoke again. "Well, why don't we head out, shall we?"

As the group got ready to leave, Hermione turned to say goodbye to her newly made enemy Seamus, and her acquaintances Hannah and Justin. "No need to say goodbye, Hermione," Jonathan told her. "You'll be seeing them tomorrow in school."

_School?_ Hermione had forgotten about that. _But, **tomorrow? **_Was she really going to be able to handle it?

00 000 0000 00000

**A/N: **Dun, dun, DUN! _Will_ they be able to handle school? Review if you love me. And if you love me even MORE then review Potter's Ten and When Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean. Thanks:)


	3. Smells Like Teen Spirit

**Author's Note: **I haven't update in a really long time! I'm so sorry! :: Hits herself ::

**ArkMage: **Thanks for telling me about Dean. I thought he was a Muggle-born, and I always made him one in my stories, but then I realized that I didn't actually remember any _actual_ scenes from the books where he ever mentioned being a Muggle-born. Keep on reviewing :)

**Bewitched Angel: **Yay! I'm happy again! Thanks for your reviews! Keep 'em up and review my other stories, too, if you have time, please!

**Alenor: **Exactly. It's more fun when they have no time to adjust :) Keep on reviewing!

**AdepressedSpooty: **Thanks for your review! I read your story about Hermione cutting herself; it was _INTENSE_ but it definitely kept me reading!

**Angil10: **Hmmm... We'll see what happens to Hermione... Keep up your reviews!

**GiGiFanFic: **I'll try and continue updating as much as I can, but I have a _lot_ of stories and a _lot_ of work. But I'll try as hard as I can to keep it up! Meanwhile check out some of my other stories :) Thanks! Keep up the reviews!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, or celebrities/TV shows/movies that I mention. But I own the American characters and the schools they attend.

000

Chapter Three Smells Like Teen Spirit 

The subway doors opened up for Harry to step out onto the grimy platform, Ally and Isaac close behind. They led him up a flight of stairs and through a turnstile to exit the subway station. It had taken him a few minutes while they were entering the station nearby Ally and Isaac's apartment before he actually got the hang of what he was doing. He tried to imagine Ron, probably never having _ever_ been on even the London Underground in his life, trying to get through a subway turnstile and attempting to swipe a "Metrocard" through that thin little opening.

_Stop thinking about Ron, you idiot_! He cursed himself. Every time he thought of his old best friend and the fact that he wasn't going to see him for a _very long time_ he got extremely upset with Hermione and whoever even thought up this program, and he wanted to hit something. Badly.

They ascended another flight of steps and entered the cheery sunlight of the September morning. They were on a somewhat narrow street with large, looming buildings on every side of them. Behind him, Harry saw a large, broad intersection containing several huge, important-looking buildings. Ally and Isaac continued up the street, the bright sun peering over the buildings and spilling lightly through the branches and leaves of the few trees on the street.

"Do you have Starbucks in England?" Isaac wondered, gesturing to a place with large glass windows on their left.

Harry glanced inside to see a long line of people at a wooden counter and several small, round tables at the other end. He didn't know if there were any in England, he certainly hadn't seen them. (**A/N: **_Is _there Starbucks in the UK?) He shrugged in response to Isaac's question. "I've never seen it before."

Isaac nodded. "It's a restaurant chain that sells really bad coffee and mocha-chocha-latte-chino-blah-blahs," he explained.

"Huh?"

"It's a chain of restaurants that sells lots of gross coffee, to put it simply," Isaac finished.

Harry nodded. For some reason, his stomach seemed to have sprouted a gazillion butterflies that were all flying wildly about inside of him. He didn't know why, but he was nervous as hell to start at this new school.

They reached an ominous building that looked like a smaller version of Hogwarts that had been dropped awkwardly in the middle of a New York City street. **Parkers School** was written in gold lettering above the door. Harry swallowed as they climbed slowly up the steps to enter the building. It felt like he was climbing a gargantuan mountain just to get inside the stupid building. They finally entered it, Harry discovering nothing more than an extremely crowded hallway that had the looks of a slightly more elegant medieval torture chamber. Isaac and Ally made their way deftly through the throng of students and excited parents, around a corner and down a hall until they reached two large doors. They entered and Harry found himself in a high-ceilinged, modern room with a woman sitting at a desk to his left, and two offices with open doors straight ahead.

"This is the Upper School Office," Isaac informed him before turning to the woman at the desk. "This is Harry Potter, the English exchange student. I was told to bring him here-"

He was cut off by a woman with huge hips and a fake smile plastered on her face, greeting the small group with open arms. "Harry Potter!" she cried, holding out a hand for him to shake firmly. "I'm so _delighted_ to meet you! My name is Mrs. Freeman. You're the first of our exchange students to arrive. Welcome to Parkers."

"Thank you," Harry said politely, massaging his hand to try and regain some bloodflow in it.

"So, how long have you been in New York for?" she questioned.

"Only about twenty-four hours," he said.

She gasped forcedly. "You must be _so_ jet-lagged," she inferred.

Harry shrugged. "A bit." He was, but it only felt like it was the early afternoon to him right now, so the worst of it hadn't quite hit him yet.

Mrs. Freeman then proceeded to tell him boring things about the school, not letting him go until she had explained- at great length- that he was to find out his homeroom and then go to the required room. When he, Ally, and Isaac did finally get to escape, he opened the door to find himself almost face-to-face with Parvati.

"Parvati!" he cried, a little bit more loudly than he had intended.

"Harry!" she said at the same time.

He stepped outside so he was next to her. "It's _so amazing_ to see another wizard here. You don't understand," he mumbled, just quietly enough for only her to hear.

"I _know_," she said. She had the worst night sleep in a long time the night before, and she was _not _getting used to the Muggle life at all. Seeing Harry was almost like seeing Santa Claus.

000

For Ron, the experience was slightly different. Andrew and Cassie had decided on taking the schoolbus, claiming that it was much simpler than to take any form of public transportation. When they finally reached the school, Ron was dumbstruck at the sight of it. It was a broad building surrounded by huge, green rolling fields and lush forests.

"Are we still in the city?" Ron questioned dubiously.

Andrew nodded and Ron's jaw dropped.

"Whoa," he breathed. He followed Cassie and Andrew out of the bus and into the building. He, too, was led to the Upper School Office, but Dean was already in there when he arrived. Seeing his old friend almost brought Ron to tears of relief that he wouldn't be going through this unbelievably intimidating semester on his own. Ron was then introduced to the head of the Upper School, Mr. Velazquez. After the annoying introductions and small talk, they were sent off to find there homerooms. Ron was somewhat relieved to discover that he and Dean had thoughtfully been put into the same homeroom. Leo and Andrew were in their homerooms as well, because, as the group had just been informed, Dean and Ron would have most of their classes with their "brothers" so they could get to know the school quickly and hopefully make friends more easily.

Their homeroom was a large room that was filled with sinks, glasses, and other odd glass and metal contraptions. Ron was very confused. Andrew and Cassie had spent a great deal of time teaching him about American culture, but they mentioned nothing about glass-and-metal rooms.

"What are all these things?" Ron questioned quietly to Andrew.

Andrew looked a bit surprised. "Don't you guys have Science class?" he inquired.

Ron shook his head, confused.

"Well this is all Science equipment for Science class," Andrew explained. "Whenever we have it, I'll make sure that I'm your partner."

Ron nodded thankfully.

As Ron pondered the lives of Muggles, Dean tried to hit it off with the ladies straight away. He sat on his side of the room, happy that Leo was an absolute girl magnet. Once they gravitated toward him they'd notice that there was a mysterious new student from England and immediately take interest in the wizard. Although, they obviously didn't know he was a wizard.

"So you're from England?" a girl with a nice rack and giant eyes to match the size. "That's _so_ cool! I've never been to England."

"You should go sometime," Dean responded.

"I've been to England," another girl, who had nicely pale skin and fluffy hair informed the group. "I've gone to London, like, eight times." She shrugged. "It's okay."

Dean didn't like this girl. Suddenly someone else caught his eye. It was a girl toward the side of the group who was standing so quietly Dean barely even noticed her. She looked like a freaking Victoria's Secret model or something who had just popped out of a photo shoot. Except plus clothes. She had tan skin and dark hair and eyes that glittered like emeralds in their sockets. It was love at first sight. For Dean, at least.

Suddenly his gaze was inturrupted as a loud teacher entered the room and commanded them to sit down. She ended up sitting behind him- he didn't know where- so he couldn't turn around and gaze at her from afar every second without arousing lots of suspision.

000

The day was uneventful for the four East Coast-ers, aside from the thousands of people flooding toward them to learn about the English exchange students.

Dean, Leo, Milo, and Anna returned home a little after noon that day, and Dean instinctively followed Leo into the kitchen. Noticing no one else was there, Leo took this opportunity to give Dean a little bit of information.

"I saw you eyeing Dawn this morning," Leo observed.

"Huh?" Dean questioned, clueless.

"Dawn. Tall, looks like some sort of amazing Brazilian Victoria's Secret model who happens to not be Gisele Bundchen," Leo nudged Dean's memory.

"Gisele Bundchen?" Dean was still very in the dark.

"Very famous and hot supermodel. You have a crush on her."

"Okay."

"Anyway, that girl you were staring at, her name is Dawn," Leo said. "I would normally tell you to go for it. In fact, I would tell you to go for it with anyone in the grade _except_ for Dawn."

Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Did you see that guy that you're red-head friend was with?"

Dean nodded.

"His name is Andrew, and he and Dawn just broke up this summer. From what I heard, neither of them are taking it very well, and I wouldn't really risk messing with the star of the football team's ex, if I were you," Leo said.

"He plays football? Cool!" Dean exclaimed.

"American football."

"Oh."

Clearly, that "how-to-not-get-yourself-killed" lesson went straight over Dean's potion-filled wizard head. This will be fun.

000

**A/N: **Yay! I finally finished! It's been, what? _Forever_ since I've updated and I feel REALLY bad. But please review, and if I get a lot I'll be _very_ persuaded to update more frequently! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I might edit it a bit later because it felt kind of... limp... Anyway, if you review I'll give you eight tubs of Phish Food!


	4. ExGirlfriend

**A/N: **I know I haven't updated in ages, but since I'm out of school now, I'm trying to update more often.

**Alenor: **This chapter is for the west-coasters! Thanks a lot for reviewing my stories so much!

**blond1w/smelborp: **Well now I'm updating. Sorry it took so long. But thanks a lot for reviewing!

**ki-ki93: **Thanks so much for your review! Sorry it's taking me so long to update.

**A/N (again): **The families in LA might be a little bit farfetched because the idea of a celebrity wanting to have a random wizard come into their family might seem weird to some people, but it's a story so just bear with me.

**Disclaimer: **I own the families and the idea of this story, but none of the Hogwarts students!

**0000**

Being a Muggle-born, Justin knew exactly who his family was. Peter Milaris was one of the most famous directors in the world, and Jennifer Wilson was an extremely famous actress. Between the two of them, they had won their fair share of Oscars.

Justin was expecting a gigantic, lavish mansion to call home for the next four months, and that was indeed what he got. They had their own team of pool boys, chefs, maids, instructors, mechanics, you name it. They would be Justin's for the next four months.

They were heading off to school. Nick, 17, was driving. They were in a massive SUV. Justin hated SUVs, and he wasn't even in the Muggle world to spend time with any. They were just too big. In the backseat was Isabel, 15, humming to herself. She wouldn't shut up all night last night. She went on and on and on and on about her friends, cheerleading, and how much he was just going to LOVE the "normal" world, as she put it. He was just about ready to smack her.

Nick turned on the radio and was now singing along to himself to some weird song. It occurred to Justin that he knew very little about Muggle culture, and even less about American Muggle culture.

"Um, what is this song?" he asked timidly. Nick didn't talk much and spent most of his time in his room. Maybe he was spastically bipolar or something scary like that, and he was hiding himself from the world just so that he didn't lash out at Justin by accident and rip his head off.

"Oh, it's called Candy Shop. It's by 50 Cent," Nick explained, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of the car. "Wait, do you know anything about our world and our culture, and stuff?"

"No."

"Damn. Maybe I should explain it to you a bit," Nick said. Justin decided that he was kind of stupid. He then launched into what felt like an _endless_ explanation about God-knows-what having to do with everything in the world. It went on for AGES, until they finally got to school. By the end he still though Nick was slightly stupid. Justin's head was spinning with celebrity info and current events about bombs and oil and tons of nuclear crap he couldn't care less about. Suddenly the Milaris work crew was looking less and less exciting and this whole situation was looking a lot scarier.

**0000**

Hannah Abbot spent her first night at Miguel Stipa and Meredith Stipa-Parker's massive mansion in the middle of the Hollywood Hills. The next week she would alternate and stay with Lisa Mondeau.

Hearing that she was going to spend time with people named Amelie and Andres made her think that maybe this experience would prove to be an interesting and fun one, but Amelie and Andres sure did not live up to their creative and different names.

Amelie was probably the most boring person Hannah had ever met. You would expect her being the child of two unbelievably famous celebrities to at least have a personality. But no, she did not.

Hannah discovered the occupations of her two surrogate parents when they were bombarded by people upon exiting the airport. That explained who those two giant men surrounding the family at all times were. Hannah didn't know much about celebrities and bodyguards and all that stuff, and when they piled into the Stipa-Parker car, Miguel had a fun time talking about his life and explaining what movies and "showbiz" was. It sort of went right over Hannah's head.

She stepped out of the chauffeured car and into the parking lot of Beverly Hills High to first lay eyes on Justin Finch-Fletchley. She had never been so happy to see her fellow Hufflepuff in her whole entire life. Seeing another wizard was like one thread of hope. She hoped that everyone else was having as shitty a time as she was.

Hannah and Justin headed straight toward each other to relate on the subject of how crazy they were going.

"Hi," she said, giving him an exasperated look.

He raised his eyebrows. "How was your first night?"

"You don't want to know."

Amelie approached Nick pleasantly, but did nothing more than attempt at an innocent conversation. Although Hannah could sense something more between the two of them.

**0000**

Hermione in severe pain was what kept Seamus going. Matt Papulos was the biggest pothead ever. While Seamus was "making himself at home" the previous night in their giant house, Matt mysteriously disappeared and came back with a very dead expression on his face. Seamus just laughed and prayed that he'd get transported back to Hogwarts in his sleep.

Then there was Emily, the giant bitch who wouldn't stop complaining, and of course Lucy, the 12-year-old brat who was a mixture of Harold Papulos, the big-time lawyer to the stars, and Vivian Greenfield who couldn't stop showing off and bragging about her witchcraft. It was enough to drive him to suicide. It was enough to drive anyone to suicide.

Now it was the first day of school and Matt the stoner drove them. They arrived at school and it was as though Matt had some sort of stoner radar attached to him, and he went straight to this kid with dyed blonde hair to his chin.

"Hey." They did some handshake thing.

Then Seamus saw it. Standing behind Stoner #2 was Hermione. It took all his strength to not attack her.

"Seamus! Hi!" She was trying to be all happy and friendly, pretending that she hadn't just ruined Seamus' life.

He didn't respond.

"Have you seen anyone else yet?" she questioned, still acting as though everything was right as rain.

He didn't respond again.

The stoners didn't seem to notice. They suddenly realized that they had to take Hermione and Seamus to the office to get their schedules and to get acquainted with "some people..." They didn't really know because they weren't paying attention. They were probably stoned.

The office was already occupied by Justin and Hannah.

The very ditzy and whorish-looking secretary gasped in excitement when she caught a glimpse of the other two with their stoner buddies. "You must be Seamus and Hermione!" she cooed. Only she pronounced their names "see-muss" and "hermy-owne".

Seamus twitched.

"Actually, it's _Seamus_ and _Hermione_," Hermione explained, pronouncing the names correctly.

"Oh. Sorry," she apologized perkily.

Seamus rolled his eyes as the woman led them into the principal's office.

"You look happy," Justin mumbled to Seamus as they entered the room. It was dimly lit and the walls were lined with shelves and shelves of books. A large, spinning chair had its back to the students and rested against a dark wood table.

Seamus just grunted in response to Justin's remark. At the moment he was the one he could tolerate the most in the school, but that probably wouldn't last for very long.

Suddenly the principal spun around in his chair.

"Well hello there, my friends," he said creepily. This whole situation was kind of odd. None of the four Hogwarts students were used to people spinning around in spinney chairs, and the four non-Hogwarts guides knew that seeing people like that usually only occurred in movies, and was done by evil villains.

"I'm Mr. Lawrence, your principal," he explained. His hazel eyes darted around the room suspiciously, and he grinned to reveal crooked but sparklingly white teeth. "I hope you all have been enjoying your stay with these four young students. I know that they were delighted to receive you all as foreign exchange students." The principal didn't know that the four Hogwarts students were really wizards and witches. He was told that they were simply normal foreign exchange students, not people who had the ability to cast spells and make potions.

The four nodded nervously in response. Even Seamus was practically scared shitless of this guy.

"I have each of your schedules, and they have been tailored to almost completely match those of your guides," Mr. Lawrence continued. "I understand that your curriculum was a bit different back in Great Britain, but I am confident that you all will catch up quickly."

He handed out the schedules. Seamus stared down at his and felt completely clueless. How on earth was he supposed to survive at this stupid school with these dumb Muggles and classes on things he didn't even know the least bit about?

**0000**

Hermione had to admit that she was slightly upset that her guide person was a boy. But unfortunately they couldn't get anyone who went to BHH and was a senior girl who knew about wizardry. She just told herself that she couldn't have everything.

Jonathan Webber did have two younger sisters, ages 16 and 15, though. Lindsay, the 16-year-old was very talkative and gossipy. She kept on talking about what she thought everyone would wear and be like and who they'd hooked up with over the summer and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But Hermione was trying to look at the bright side of all of this because she was the one who got herself into this stupid program, and she was the one that had forced everyone else into it and had turned half of the students of her year against her. It was her own bloody fault.

"So. We have Math first," Jonathan announced, staring down at his schedule. "Oh, shit, I have Mr. Robbins. Oh, fuck me." Jonathan slapped himself on the forehead.

Hermione winced. "What's wrong with Mr. Robbins?" she asked tentatively.

"He's psychotic. And really hard," Jonathan explained.

Hermione nodded, not wanting to press for answers any further.

Jonathan scanned down the rest of the schedule. He laughed to himself. "We have the worst teachers ever."

"...Okay..." Was she supposed to take that as a good thing?

Jonathan shrugged.

They walked the rest of the way to class in silence and made it there in less than a minute. Hermione sat down at a desk next to Jonathan's. He sat down next to Matt, whom he was happy to see he had a class with. On the other side of Matt, Seamus sat glaring at her. She ignored him and looked around the room. None of the people seemed to want to have anything to do with her. They barely even noticed she was there. She had a feeling that she would have to go through hell to get friends in this place.

Until suddenly, as though on cue, someone sitting on the other side of her started talking to her.

"Are you one of the new girls from England?" she questioned.

Hermione spun around and came face-to-face with a girl with bright and curious hazel eyes and a long, slender body leaning over onto Hermione's desk.

"Yes," she answered. For some reason she felt a twinge of intimidation from this girl.

"I'm Elizabeth Sherman," she said with a big smile, extending her hand out for Hermione to shake.

"Hermione Granger," she responded, taking her hand.

"It's _really_ nice to meet you. I was so excited to hear that there would be exchange students from England! That's so cool."

And that was how Hermione got her first friend in California.

**0000**

**A/N: **Too many details and not enough dialogue and action, am I right? That's how I sort of feel about this chapter... I was trying to write it sort of quickly because I feel so bad that I haven't been updating anything quickly and it's summer! I also made a few changes to this story: the title and some of the names of a few characters, so there are a few small changes to chapter two. Please review and tell me your thoughts, even if they're negative ones!


	5. Lonely Day

**A/N: **Thanks to the… erm… 2 reviewers… Lol. I never get any reviews. Hah. But whatever. Anyway: thanks to those of you who _did_ review. I just got back from camp so that's why I haven't updated in ages. I have too many damn stories!

**Alenor: **Thanks so much for your review. You always review all my stories and I appreciate it _so_ much. It makes me happy to see that someone can tolerate all my stories. Heehee. So please keep up all your reviews!

**Dark672: **Umm… Thanks for the detailed review…? Just kidding. Thanks for reviewing at all!

**Disclaimer: **I own the characters that don't belong to J.K. Rowling and the idea of the story.

**000000**

The first complete day of school that contained actual classes proved to be pretty uneventful. Dean and Ron soon discovered that they had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into and that they had no idea how to do anything that an average Muggle should know how to do at the age of seventeen. They were asked to do a few simple Algebra problems on their first day of math class, and Ron's whimpers could be heard throughout the entire classroom. When they were asked to discuss American history, they proved that they knew nothing about it. At least they could cover that up with the idea that you didn't learn very much American history over in the UK, although you probably did. When Dean tried to look intelligent in front of Dawn during Science class, it proved a complete failure when his little mix of chemicals exploded. It wasn't very pleasant.

So when Dean stepped onto the grassy lawn of his school on that cloudy Wednesday, he wasn't a very happy camper.

"Excited?" Ron asked in a sarcastic giddy voice, popping up next to him.

"No," Dean sighed. "Not at all." He stared at the formidable-looking school that was laid out before him. Just looking at the other students, milling about happily, made him want to fly home to Hogwarts.

"Well, time for another grueling day of classes." Ron stepped forward and followed Andrew and Leo into the building.

Dean followed quickly behind the group.

The morning went by pretty easily. Dean tried to lay low and avoided eye contact with Dawn. Well, not that she would look at him anyway, but just incase. He had most of his classes with her. By the time lunch arrived, he was worn out with trying to avoid getting into any messes.

He slid his tray along the lunch line next to Leo and then sat down with him and his friends Adam Moskowitz and Thomas Flynn. He ate lunch with them the day before. They mostly talked about sports. It was rather boring, especially when the only sports he knew or cared about were Quidditch, which neither Adam nor Thomas had ever heard of in their entire life, and football (soccer) which neither Adam nor Thomas cared about.

"So did you see the game last night?" Leo asked his friends.

_What game? What sport are they even talking about? _

"Yes. It was unbelievable," Thomas expressed.

"Did you see A-Rod make that catch?" came from Adam.

"_A-Rod"? What the hell? _

"That was incredible!" Thomas cried, laughing.

_Yes, it would be even more incredible if you cared to tell Dean what in the name of baby Jesus you were talking about. _

"I know! I was screaming!" Adam said.

_But of course, you're not nice enough to think about poor, little, foreign Dean…_

"Me too!" added Leo.

_Oh, so _that's_ what got him so excited last night…_

**000000**

Ron, on the other hand, was sitting on the other side of the cafeteria with Andrew and his friends. Andrew's friends were Jack Davidson and Luke Harris. They didn't seem to like Ron very much. In fact, they seemed completely uninterested in him and like they had some sort of _dislike_ toward him, despite the fact that they had known him for only two days.

Ron jumped slightly in his seat when he spotted Cassie just a few tables away. She was staring at Jack. Absolutely staring at him. Ron stared at her. She stared at Jack. Ron stared at –

"Dude, what are you looking at?"

Ron detested the word dude.

But it snapped him out of his trance, nevertheless. He looked up to see Jack staring at him.

"Wha - ? Oh, nothing…" he responded, obviously completely lying.

Jack nodded dubiously and then glanced quickly in the direction of his stares. Upon meeting Cassie's gaze he quickly snapped away and looked even angrier than he had looked before. Great.

Ron wanted to strangle himself.

**000000**

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, things weren't going much differently. The building that Harry had his classes in was the most confusing building he'd ever been inside in his life. It really was like a mini version of Hogwarts, and it was impossible to find your way around in. For lunch that day, Isaac suggested that they go out to lunch, which meant that he gathered up a bunch of people and they all left the school to go buy food somewhere else. Unfortunately for Harry, he didn't have any money with him. He had a little bit of money back at the apartment because the school gave everyone some American money, mostly for emergencies, at the beginning of the trip. But that was all.

"Um, where are we going?" Harry asked Isaac as he tried to catch up with the group walking down the street.

"Mario's," Isaac said. "Do you like pizza?"

"Uh… Yeah…" Harry hadn't eaten pizza since he was nine years old, and that was only because he stole a slice from Dudley's birthday party. Needless to say he got a good lecture later from his aunt and uncle.

"Great!"

The group consisted of three of Isaac's closest friends, none of which Harry knew the names of. He had barely even spoken to Parvati before this trip, and now he found himself longing for her presence. He wouldn't even mind if Malfoy magically appeared – at least he'd be a familiar face.

The pizzeria was around the corner and down about three blocks of a wide and crowded street. Harry lost sight of the group a few times and panicked, but luckily they floated back into his vision quickly and he just jogged to catch up with them. They were all unfortunately quick walkers.

When they entered the restaurant, they stood on the back of a long line that went across the counter. There were several people behind the counter bustling about with pizzas and pizza cutters in their hands, shouting things to each other in Spanish.

Wait wasn't pizza Italian?

"Oh, hi!" someone suddenly said from in front of the group.

It was Samantha Stone, the girl that Parvati was staying with.

"Samantha!" Harry cried, not really caring that he'd never spoken to her in his entire life. "Is Parvati with you?"

Her eyes grew wide and her hand flew over her mouth. A muffled "Shit" could be heard from beneath her hand.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You left her at school, didn't you?" Ally asked from next to her. Harry didn't notice that she was there.

Samantha nodded sadly and Ally laughed.

"Wait, you left your person at the school?" Isaac repeated.

Samantha nodded again.

Isaac laughed. "Retard."

Samantha removed her hand from in front of her mouth and stuck her tongue out at Isaac.

Well, then.

When Isaac's group reached the front of the line, he thoughtfully asked Harry what he wanted.

"Um… Nothing; I don't have any money," Harry admitted.

Isaac hit him lightly on the side of the arm. "I'll pay for you," he said.

Harry rubbed the side of his arm more out of confusion than pain. "Um… Are you sure? I don't have much American money."

Isaac shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

"Um, okay," Harry said. "I guess I'll just have one plain slice… or something…" Harry didn't know much about pizza.

**000000**

Parvati stood very much alone in the middle of a hallway. Samantha had literally disappeared from her vision, and now she was standing outside her math classroom completely confused. Where had she gone? And what was she supposed to do all by herself for the duration of the lunch period?

"Hey, you're that British girl, aren't you?" someone asked from her left.

"Wha – Oh, yes," Parvati said, turning to face the voice. It was a short girl with wavy brown hair to her shoulders and her hands on her hips. "Yes, I am."

"Julia," the girl said, holding out her hand. "Want to go get lunch?"

"Wh – o-okay." Parvati couldn't stop stumbling over her words. She was very taken aback that someone was going out of their way to talk to her.

They started down the hallway until someone called "Wait up!" after them. Julia spun around. Parvati turned almost hesitantly.

Two girls walked down the short hallway to them and joined them in their walk to the cafeteria.

That day, Parvati ate lunch with a huge group of boys and girls at a long table in the center of the cafeteria. The cafeteria rather resembled the Dining Hall at Hogwarts, what with the long wooden tables running through it. She sat with this huge group at one of them and reached the conclusion by the end of the meal that they were the popular group.

**000000**

Harry and Isaac rode on the subway by themselves, without Ally, on the way home that day. When they got to the apartment, they did their homework together and had a rather dull evening. Nothing had happened that day. Harry wondered what Ron and Dean were up to, over at their school. They were probably having a fabulous time. They were probably the most popular guys and they had all the girls all over them. Their lives were probably nothing like Harry's was at the moment; sullen and depressing. Full of loneliness for severe lack of friends. Harry longed to be back at Hogwarts, not in this stupid city with these stupid people and this stupid program. He sighed. He had to stop feeling so sorry for himself.

**000000**

**A/N: **I don't know if that was any good, but I couldn't really think of what to write. For some reason, the NYC group is slightly less exciting for me to write about. I don't know why. Anyway, please review! If you do, I'll give you a nice shiny new set of jax. Because they are so fun.


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